Chapter 11: Journey to the Golden Realm
Kyu, Cate, Suta, Swisher, Worker, Cleaner, and Jeanne were already at the Forest Cabin, that was nestled in the outskirts of the Dense Pine Forest south of Camina and on the banks of a small Fisherman's Lake. It was a small log cabin with one narrow wooden door, three windows, a large stone chimney, a couch, and a chest. There was also a deer fur rug on the floor.
By the time the battle started at Camina Village, the Golden Forest Company had already escaped and had been on their way to the Forest Cabin. They left after an hour and after checking their supplies.
They moved at quick pace, and by noon they had reached the banks of the Treewash. It was a calm river slightly covered with fallen pine needles broken every now and then by a jumping fish. The banks were about a yard above the slow moving waters of the river.
Kyu opened up his ears to listen in on the sounds of the forest. Song birds filled the air with their cheerful chirp songs, and squirrels raced each other in the treetops. The water of the river softly lapped the sides of the bank as it slowly moved southwards.
The party had made a league since reaching the Treewash, and had made a league before that. The stopped at a part of the bank that was particularly high from the river, about six feet high.
Worker and Swisher jumped into the Treewash and fished. Cleaner used a water rune to cleanse the river water, and filled everyone's canteens. Kyu and Suta got wood and stones for the fire. Jeanne made the fire once the supplies were brought in, and Cate gathered herbs and river grass.
Soon, they had their fill of river fish seasoned by river grass and herbs. The three ducks made fish hooks and flutes out of the bones.
Then the party continued on their journey, hoping to reach Wide Lake by sunset.
As they continued, Swisher pulled out a map of the Southern Continent and showed it to Kyu. He pointed to Lake Camina. "Camina Village is here, and we took a short journey south into the Dense Pine Forest to the Forest Cabin." Swisher outlined the trail with a feathered finger. He now pointed a dot labeled Forest Cabin that was in the outskirts of the pine forest. The Dense Pine Forest looked massive to Kyu, as it covered much of the continent. "Onlundd was over here." The duck pointed to a square in the middle of a massive grassland to over thirty leagues west of Camina Village. Then he pointed to a thin river that seemed to cut through the middle of the Dense Pine Forest. "That is the Treewash. The shortest path follows this river." Then he dragged his finger to a large lake that the Treewash emptied into at the edge of the forest. "That is Wide Lake. It covers a lot of ground, but isn't very deep. It is around six feet deep at most. Fisherman's Lake on the other hand reaches over thirty feet in depth, but doesn't cover half as much land as Wide Lake, which is twice as big as Lake Camina." Ducks seemed to know a lot about lakes and could easily perceive the depth and area of a lake, even if they'd never seen it before. Kyu took everything that Swisher said with great interest because he'd never seen a map before. The Sindar people usually just followed the Rune of Change. Swisher pointed to a grassland in between the Dense Pine Forest and a smaller forest. "We'll have about four leagues of travel in between the Dense Pine and the Golden Forest. The City of Trees, Naiyth, is only half a league into the Golden Forest."
"Have you ever been there?" Kyu asked. He'd never seen an Elf before. He'd met Beavers and even a Kobold before, but never an Elf.
Swisher shook his head. "The King of the Forest is very cheerful and kind, but the Elves are very secretive and protective. They don't take kindly to people who kill animals, even for food, and they only take wood when needed. They use powerful magic to bend the trees and such to fit their needs. The trees of the Golden Forest are ancient, thick, and tall. So the Elves make houses using them. In turn, when an Elf dies, they are buried under a new sapling. This is so the tree can feed off of the magic essence of the Elf and become tall and mighty in a few days."
Then Swisher began a tune on the bone flute, and Cleaner and Worker joined in.
By sunset, they had reached Wide Lake and had walked nine leagues since leaving the Forest Cabin. They began setting up camp and everyone had a job. They soon had three small birds and three plump river fish. Jeanne had also found Edas Berries that grow on bushes that were native to the region. Then Kyu brewed Sehlu.
Every sat around the fire and sipped at their Sehlu while looking deep into the fire and thinking about times past. Kyu was thinking of his mother and the letters he had gotten from his long past father, and of the advice he had received from Bartholomew, Gabriel, and Bedivere. Suta was thinking of his father, Saxon. Cate thought about her sister, Alessa, who had been killed in the attack on Onlundd. Soon the party had drifted to sleep, with the exception of Jeanne.
She sat up all night, watching over the Savior.
The next day, the party got up early. They ate some eggs that Cate and Jeanne had found along with some more Edas Berries and Sehlu. Then put out the fire, and moved out.
They began circling around Wide Lake, entering into the sparse Grassland.
After passing the lake, they headed along a narrow dirt path that cut through the Grasslands. Kyu noticed that the only noise of nature was the gentle wind blowing over the tall grass.
When they came to a fork in the road, Swisher referred to his map. "If we take the easterly route, it will take us further into the grasslands to Madicast, a tiny village. The southern route is to Naiyth." As they took the south route, Swisher spoke to Kyu about his travels in the region. "Madicast is a small, boring farming village. It has about sixty residents, most of who are over forty. However they are extremely hard working and tough. Beyond Madicast are the Sindar ruins of Maditor. It is not the city of your tribe of Sindar, though."
"There are others?" Kyu asked. He hadn't thought there were more.
"Yes. Several different tribes in fact. Most are now under Chagrin, but one other tribe follows the Sindar King Julion. They had once inhabited Maditor many years ago. After Maditor was destroyed by Chagrin's forces, that tribe blended in with you own tribe. That was around fifteen years ago, at about the time your tribe fought at Goralt."
Kyu thought about this as they came to the edge of the Golden Forest. Swisher had been right about the age and size of the golden leaved trees of the Golden Forest. They had diameters of around sixteen to twenty feet and heights of over one hundred. They were ancient oaks of at least a thousand or two years.
Two armed Elves came out of the forest, arrows trained on the party. Both were tall and graceful with long hair and fair skin. The male's eyes were sharp green and had long golden blonde hair. The female had bright blue eyes and silky autumn hair. Both wore green cloaks with a brown belt and boots, and a dark green hood. "Who are you?" The male asked.
Jeanne held up her hands and answered. "I am Jeanne of the Sindar Rune Bearers under King Julion. With me are Sir Kyu, Sir Suta, and Lady Cate of the Six Great Knights. Then there is Sergeant Swisher, Deputy Chief of the Duck People, and Cleaner and Worker. We come from Camina Village with a message for the King of the Forest and Lord of the Golden Realm."
"I recognize the Sergeant and the Rune Sage Jeanne." The female Elf said. The two lowered their bows, but did not put them away. "I am Aeldeth of the Second House of Naiyth. This is Lyreth of the First House, Prince of the Golden Realm."
As introductions were done, the two elves led the way into the forest. It was a swift and strange change. The grassland had been full of light, and barely any light made it to the forest floor. The grassland had been calm and quiet, and while the forest was calm, it was anything but quiet. There was the sound of a nearby river, the loud chirping and squawking of birds, animals moved through the forest brush, and animals moving through the treetops. Kyu thought he saw an Elf ranger moved from branch to branch, watching the party carefully.
The path gradually sloped downwards as if leading into a deep valley. Suddenly they came to a wall and gate. Kyu couldn't tell it was a wall at first, but soon saw it was an impenetrable wall of trees. The wall was at least sixty feet high and around thirty feet thick. It was made of huge trees, brush, and vines. Floating lights sat near the gate, which was a half-circle opening between two trees guarded by an Elf on each side.
Lyreth spoke a word to the guards in Elven, and the party entered Naiyth. Kyu stared in wonder, taking it in. They all did, except for Jeanne who seemed to have been in Naiyth before. The city was filled with trees and flowers. Shops and houses situated both inside and on the trees. Ladders led up to the highest sturdy branches. Flowerbeds of the most beautiful flowers sat on the sides of the path. Floating lights danced around everywhere, filling the city with light. Elves walked around on the path going about their business. Many Elves stopped to stare at the visitors. They had lived for hundreds of years yet most had never seen a Sindar or a Duck in person.
Lyreth and Aeldeth led the party further into the city. The path split off into many roads and side streets. Aeldeth pointed out some of the sights. She seemed much friendlier than Lyreth, who still seemed cautious. She pointed to a massive tree with many windows and tall double doors. "That is the Library of Naiyth, which in our culture also serves as the primary learning facility. It is the largest library in the world containing texts and scrolls in Sindar, Ancient Armes, Elven, Dwarven, and many other tongues. Anwen the Poet of the Fifth House is the Head of the Library."
They began to near the center of the city when beautiful singing voices could be heard. They were singing a cheery Elven song. Aeldeth pointed to a tree ten times the size of any other tree in the forest. It had massive double doors and two Elf guards stood at each side of the doors. "That is the Golden Palace or Paethil Gildae. It is the First House of Naiyth, the home of the King of the Forest and Prince Lyreth, and the center of government for Elven civilization."
The Elven guards bowed to Lyreth and opened up the great wooden doors. The Golden Forest Company entered the First House of Naiyth.
